SoCon Golfer of the Year Stephan Jaeger leads Chattanooga into its fifth straight regional appearance.

Courtesy: GoMocs.com

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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's golf team is heading to Erie, Colo., for the NCAA South Central Regional at Colorado National Golf Club the NCAA announced Monday. This is the fifth straight year the team has qualified for regionals.

"I wasn't really worried about where we were going, I'm just happy to finally know," said head coach Mark Guhne. "We've earned this shot and now we need to take advantage of it."

Regional play starts Thursday, May 19, on the par 72, 7,753-yard tract. The three-day, 54-hole event closes on Saturday, May 21. There are 13 teams and 10 individuals playing at this regional site. The top five teams and one individual from a non-advancing team move on to the NCAA Championship May 31-June 5 at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.

Chattanooga is ranked No. 35 by Golfstat and No. 39 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index. UTC received the sixth-seed in the regional.

While the Mocs has not won a team title thus far in 2010-11 they have finished second three times with wins over No. 12 Georgia (No. 2 seed in South Central Regional), No. 14 Iowa and No. 22 Stanford. Junior Stephan Jaeger (Munich, Germany) won the 2011 LSU National Invitational by seven shots over runner-up Vince India of Iowa, the seventh-ranked player in the nation. He was the lone player under par at minus seven, 209.

Freshman Chris Robb (Aberdeenshire, Scotland) won in his second start at the Springhill Suites Collegiate on the Country Club of South Carolina in September. He shot a team season-best nine-under par 207 with rounds of 66 (-6) - also a team best - 69 and 72.

Jaeger leads the Mocs into regionals recording his second straight SoCon Golfer of the Year award. He was joined on the All-SoCon team (3rd straight) by Benni Weilguni (Langelois, Austria) and Steven Fox (Hendersonville, Tenn.). Weilguni and Davis Bunn (Knoxville, Tenn.) earned all-freshman mention as well. Despite a sterling season with three top 15 wins and easily the top-ranked school in the league with such a young team, Guhne did not win his fourth coach of the year honor.

This is the program's fifth regional appearance, all in the last five years. The 2009 squad finished third in the South Central Regional at this season's national championship host, Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.

"It's always a special feeling heading into regionals," said head coach Mark Guhne. "I'm excited because we have a good opportunity to advance to the finals.

"This is a young team, but we've beaten schools that have national championship aspirations," Guhne added. "We know we can compete at that level, now is the time to go prove it."

Live scoring will be available on the men's golf schedule page on GoMocs.com along with round-by-round coverage.

Several Mocs will compete in the Tennessee State Open at Brentwood Country Club (Tuesday-Thursday) along with the Signal Mountain Invitational this weekend where Jaeger is defending champion.

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